Talk to Me

A hand extended from the beyond is unlikely to be helpful, or rather, "this spirit is a cunt." Grief that hurts so much and affects judgment to the point of consuming a person. The mobile phone camera acts as an emotional barrier to the events it captures. Recreational drug use that can, with a snap of the fingers, escalate quickly. The twins who revere Friedkin’s The Exorcist focus more on characters and appropriate realism rather than on blatantly shocking scenes, and when shocks do occur, they use practical effects. If predicting the plot’s further development is difficult, and it’s not entirely foolish, we can speak of rare originality in this genre. (10/02/2023)

A great ghost-horror movie in a new interpretation, with the fine idea of connecting with the “other side” and realistic teenage characters whose relationship drama is equally as strong and important as the mystery dimension. Unfamiliar faces, an increasingly gloomy mood and a bad-ass conclusion to the story. An Australian debut feature with the qualitative parameters of producer Jason Blum’s best pieces. (01/14/2024)

You wouldn't think that in the ghost subgenre you could come up with something original. A really interesting, original premise, physically uncomfortable in places, an intense flick without cheap clichés and stale scares (there are a few and they're good). And with likeable new faces, all of them acting great. To make this as a rookie debut, well, hats off to them. (10/12/2023)

Talk to the hand, or combine an idiotic viral TikTok challenge, a metaphor for drugs, a drama about mourning and a horror movie about possession and you have the genre flick of year, in which cleverly malicious directing, excellent actors and a heavy atmosphere in which the world of phantoms that may or may not mean well by people increasingly crosses over into reality. A more than respectable successor to films such as Get Out and It Follows. I’m trembling! (12/05/2023)

Talk to Me is a movie of miracles. One of them is the fact that the brothers directing have managed to put together such a mature and high-quality film as their debut, from the superbly chosen sound design, camera angles to the well-cast who, after a long time in such a consumer horror film, manage to captivate and you will remember them even weeks later. Another very pleasing piece of news is that this Australian festival flick has made it to our cinemas and we won't be waiting a year for its release. And the third one is a kind of difference in execution, which makes from a mere exorcism makes very different film, one with its own signature that is simply "something different". And even if it is hard to say what it is in particular, you can feel from the first minutes that this is not a generic thing like The Conjuring or Annabelle. The most important thing that makes this film its own and different is the choice to go a little way into the art and the willingness to combine quality filmmaking with a suffocating atmosphere, the original idea of the mummified hand and, most importantly, the intensity of the summoning scenes, which had me glued to my seat watching what was going to happen. The violence, blood and raw brutality of some of the scenes is downright iconic, and when it comes to them, horror fans will be sniffling in bliss. Of course, this brings me to the only complaint I have for this film, and that is that there is too much plot filler and that if they had added a couple more summoning scenes and get more of what we all came here for, which is the pure evil of the demon during the summoning sessions, I would be fully satisfied. As it is, I feel mostly satisfied, but deep down also a little impoverished, as those séances were very sparse. (08/05/2023)